It Ends in Melancholy
by Turned Tables
Summary: We know only a little about Even, so what was his life like before and after becoming an apprentice? Even's life was a complexing struggle up until the point he became the Nobody Vexen. May be changed to rated M in later chapters. Possible YAOI warning.


With the release of Birth by Sleep, we have a glimpse of what Even is like. What about his life before he was an apprentice to Ansem the Wise? What about his life as a teen and then young adult? Did he live in a different world before Radiant Garden?

This is Even's life, growing up in Twilight Town before ending up in Radiant Garden as an apprentice.

**_Warning:_** May contain yaoi (boy/boy.) Will be rated M in the future for later chapters.

_**Disclaimer**_**: **Kingdom Hearts I, II, Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, Birth by Sleep and all of it's characters within it are copyrighted to Square Enix and/or Disney which is not owned by me.

**Chapter One: Judging a Book by its Cover**

As soon as the bell rung, every child within the building was bolting out the front doors without even their teachers' dismissal. It wasn't even the weekend, but the youths couldn't wait to either hang out with their friends or play games. What would you expect from young teens? They certainly weren't eager to get out so they could do their homework, that's for sure.

The last student to exit the school was a tall teen, with their nose stuck in a book. Of course the young man wasn't in any hurry to get home or run off and play like others his age. Being labeled a girly nerd by the popular kids, didn't give you very many friends. Being cool and tough was always a major competition in this world for the children, and which the blonde boy was neither, but he always did his best to ignore it. Even when his peers came up to threaten him...speaking of which.

"...Not again." The teen whispered, sounding slightly annoyed that his reading had been distrubed. Near the turn at the street corner, were the same group of punks that heckle him everyday. His face seemed to sink farther between the pages, pretending he was vanishing into the book itself, but of course that wasn't logically possible.

"Hey! Nerd!" He kept his face well hidden in the book, while to tried to pass by the group of boys. "Girly nerd! Stop acting like you're better than us!" The "tough" kids swiped the book out of the frail teen's hands, but that only made the teen look more annoyed.

"May I have that back, please." As young as he was, the blonde spoke in such a proper manner. He held out his hand, as if he was impatient parent waiting for their child to hand them something. This was a bad idea, for one of the other boys just grabbed his delicate hand and tried to crush it in his grip. This made the innocent teen yelp out in pain, which only made the gang of delinquents laugh.

"Haha! You not only look girly, but you have such a girly voice too!" Spoke one of the more bulky of the boys, who now held the innocent's book. "Ffff! You're reading such girly stuff too! Stuff about hearts? Lame!" To the blonde's horror, the bully started to tear out the pages of the books and throw them into the air.

"N-no! Please don't do that! That's the library's book!" Of course the others didn't bother listening to him. The boy tried his best to reach for the book, but was immediately jerked back by the bully who had his hand. The blonde was certain the crushing grip was going to leave a large bruise. He shot an emerald glare behind him at the boy, who just gave him a dirty look back.

"Tch! Don't try to act tough!" The boy let go of the innocent one's hand so he can grab a fist full of blonde hair. The thin teen yelped out in pain as he was jerked backwards by the strong tug on his hair. Despite the pain, he did his best to keep from showing any tears.

"Hey! Maybe we should rip out his girly long hair!" One of the punks watching suggested, and a couple agreed. The boy tearing up the book tossed the remains at the blonde.

"Hmm...naw. That would take to long." The poor boy sighed in relief until he saw him dig through his book bag and pull out a pair of scissors. "Now, this won't take long at all if we use this!" Emerald eyes went wide at the sight of the scissors, knowing the horror that was about to take place. These delinquents didn't care though, they just laughed as one dragged him by his hair to the back ally while he struggled to get away.

These junviniles were so smart, they thought it was a great idea to pick on a poor hard working peer. They even took him somewhere where no one would see them torturing this poor boy! Even if someone saw them, no one would care to help this girly nerd, right?

"...They're definitely not going out to get ice cream together, that's for sure." A spiky haired teen followed the group at a distance.

"Chop it all off!"

"Yeah! That way he won't look like a pussy anymore!" The innocent teen kicked and struggled as the scissors came near. This only made the bully tug back harder on his hair.

"Hey stop struggling! We're doing you a favor, girly!" The two blades came dangerously close to they prey's head. All he could do was watch in distress as part of his long bang was sniped off, letting a clump of blonde strands fall to the ground. The teen would not cry though, even if his shoulder length hair was cut away, he wouldn't give these idiots the delight of seeing him cry.

"Hmm, yep, you guys are definitely not getting ice cream." The bullies turned about, afraid they had been caught for a second, but suddenly smiled and laughed at who was standing there. It seemed to be another punk, with similar attire to these other boys. Another bully just added fears to the poor teen's list of worries.

"Heya Dai! Haven't seen ya in a while." One of the boys talked to this kid as if he was an old friend.

"Yeah, have ya been skipping school a lot?"

"Dude, I don't know how your parents let you get away with it."

"Hey, we got a treat for ya! We're about to show this homo not to be a freakin' chick." The newcomer's gaze went right to the terrified teen's. This kid named Dai had a different aura than the other bullies. His dark eyes read a certain understanding and knowing behind them, as if he cared or something of the sort. The bullied teen stared up at him from the ground, confused for a moment, until the other turned back to face the punks.

"So, you're picking on him, because he's different?" The messy haired teen questioned the others around him.

"W-well...yeah. I mean, he looks so prissy! He thinks he's better than us!" The boy with the scissors tried to explain, but had some doubt in his voice.

"Really now? Did he clearly say that he's better than you or did you block heads just assumed he thought that?" The boys just stood with their mouths hung open, as if wanting to make a response, but couldn't think of anything.

"W-whatever man! L-let's just finish teaching this girl a lesson!" The other boys slowly nodded and then turned their attention back towards their prey. Dai just sighed while cracking his knuckles.

"You meat-heads just don't get it do you?" Not a moment later, a hand clamped down around the punk with the scissor's wrist. The teen let out a howl of pain as his wrist was twisted and cracking, until he dropped the scissors. The juveniles stood there, dumbfounded for a moment.

"Dai man! What the hell are you doing?!" Without answering their question, an upper cut was given to the boy who held the blonde. Soon, there were fists flying everywhere when the punk finally realised this was a fight. The innocent teen moved as far back as he could, until his back hit the wall behind him. Fighting was certainly something he didn't have any interest in taking part in, and he wasn't about to get involved in a brawl today.

Soon, the boy known as Dai chased off the bullies, who shouted fowl language back at him as they ran. The teen sighed as he ran a hand through his messy black hair.

"I hate doing that." He shook his head before turning to face the other kid who was sitting on the ground, his back pressed fully against the wall. Dai gave a small smile before walking over and offering a hand. "Hey, you ok?" The other just glared before smacking the hand away, getting up himself.

"I have no interest in speaking with someone such as yourself." The blonde brushed himself off while the boy just gave a confused look.

"Well sorry for helping you out then. Geeze, the things I do..." The kid shrugged and was about to leave until he saw the taller teen kneel down to pick up the stands of hairs that was cut from his head. "...Hey look on the bright side! At least it's only part of your bangs they cut!" Dai couldn't understand why he was acting so nice to this kid, who just basically told him earlier he didn't want to talk to him.

"...You don't know my mother then." Ah-ha! So the blonde was speaking to him now.

"Your mom has a thing for her son to have long hair? Sounds weird to me." The punkish kid knelt to the ground and picked up the scissors. Without warning he cut a bit more hair to even it out, but the taller boy didn't know this.

"W-what do you think you're doing?!" The blonde snatched away the scissors and gave an icy glare. Dai just laughed as he reached forward to tuck the short strands underneath the longer parts of hair, and behind his ears.

"There! Now you can tell your mother you're trying out a new way to fix up your hair, and she won't suspect you cut it at all." The boy gave a grin as the other touched his own hair, a bit at a loss for words why this kid was helping him out. Wasn't he friends with those other punks earlier? Why did he decide to beat up his comrades to defend some helpless geek? "Hey! Don't be so down. It's just hair, it'll grow back!" The teen patted the others shoulder, as if reassuring him.

"...I guess I should thank you then." The other child seemed embarassed a bit when the blonde thanked him.

"Ah, it's no big deal really. It's just a hair trim." He laughed a little as the blonde stared at him confused, for that wasn't the only thing he was thanking him for.

"No, I meant thanks for chasing off tho-"

"So what's your name?" He cut off the other teen before he could finish his sentence. That was odd. Did this trouble making boy not like to talk about fighting? "Well? Are you just going to stand there all day or are you going to tell me your name?" The taller teen snapped out his thoughts and immediately spoke.

"Even."

"And my name is Dai, in case you don't know." The child known as Dai suddenly slung an arm around Even's shoulders, as if they had been best buddies for a while. Even stared at the strange boy who was grinning and leading him down the alley. "So you got any plans today? 'Cause I know this place..."

* * *

In case you're wondering, and I know you are, Even is 14 in this chapter. He'll age up with each chapter, so we'll see his teen years for just a bit. Yes, this will contain Xehanort/Even in the future, but we're not near that part yet, so you'll have to grin and bear it. Alright, review or whatever it is you kiddies do.


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